Effective auto responder idea

I hate cold calling (fortunately, at the moment I don't need to). So when I came across the site of a woman who calls herself the "Queen of Cold Calling", curiosity got to me: I signed up for her newsletter.

I don't agree with all her strategic advice, but she does have a brilliant idea for auto-responding to newsletter signups. She makes the letter sound personal and asks a question. That, of course, puts pressure on the polite part of me to respond, which opens a dialogue.

Think about what relevant question you could ask your prospects when they sign up for newsletters or download documents from your site.

Here's what I got from her:

Hi Tema,

Thank you for subscribing to "Opening Doors & Closing Sales." I am delighted to have you on board.

I was wondering, what is your biggest question about selling and/or developing new business?

While I may not be able to respond personally to you, I will be answering your most frequently- asked questions in the newsletter each week, so be sure to look out for your question as well as those of others - oftentimes other people ask questions you forgot to ask yourself!

To your success,
　
Wendy Weiss
The Queen of Cold Calling
Sales Training/Sales Coaching
Gain confidence, reach more prospects, close more sales and make more money.
866-405-8212
wendy@wendyweiss.com
http://www.wendyweiss.com
Worried About Sales?
Subscribe to "Opening Doors & Closing Sales,"
the free, monthly, e-mail newsletter. Visit http://www.wendyweiss.com.
Weiss Communications

She also has an incredibly long signature that includes her "pitch line", phone number, e-mail, website, and newsletter sign up (that way if I forward her note to somebody, they can sign up too).

knowem.com has a free way to check where your username is in use on social network sites. Cool.

Can't get in to my Twitter account. Their password retrieval system doesn't work well. Won't recognize my phone number. No relpy from Help.

Hucksterism and Affiliate Network sales

I've been reading lately about making money online by selling products and services as an affiliate (so you earn a commission on every sale). Some of the strategies certainly make sense (e.g. make sure you are selling stuff related to your blog or web page), and many of the better advisors do stress ethics.

But when I look at their sales pages I get so turned off by the hucksterish approach. I know that direct marketing rules say that these techniques work (and I'm sure they do), but surely it must be possible to make significant money without sounding that way? For an example of the sort of hucksterish approach I'm talking about, see: http://socialmediamoneysystem.com/ . It makes me want to avoid them even though they may actually have some good ideas and products.

Do you have to sound hucksterish to make money with affiliates? (elaborated at temafrank.com)

Help improve the Alberta Cancer Foundation website. New site coming - need feedback. Please join our user panel. http://ping.fm/rXKFt

Magazines will survive - at least until we can do good holograms. After working at a screen all day, I don't want to flip through an e-mag.

Join the Alberta Cancer Foundation's website advisory panel: http://ping.fm/mSlQT . We need your input. Thanks.

When you go to a charitable foundation website, what are you looking for? What do you expect/want to see?